Clever Kitchen Upgrades

Fresh colors and textures for a functional kitchen style

(Family Features) For avid cooks, seasoned hosts and busy families, the kitchen is likely the center of daily life and a place where both form and function are of the utmost importance.

This high-traffic space generally influences the design of the rest of the house, especially if the home has more of an open-concept layout. The colors and materials used in the kitchen normally set the tone for the rest of the home.

When it comes to considerations like finish and materials, kitchen cabinetry trends are shifting toward colored cabinetry and a mixture of exposed textures and materials.

Colorful allure White kitchen cabinets have dominated the market for years; white is constant, safe and classic. While white kitchens are likely to remain a popular option for homeowners, buying trends are showing a shift in painted cabinetry design from classic white to eye-catching colors.

Natural colors, burnt orange, shades of gray, blue hues and green tones are likely to be the leaders in painted cabinetry colors in 2019, and all are offered through an option like Wellborn’s ColorInspire program.

For those with a visionary and creative approach to design, the blue tones for cabinetry reach atmospheric wisps of colors and capture the unique space between technology and spirituality. The unbridled adventurer may use burnt orange to soak in the blue of endless horizon and the subtle earthy colors of the high plains and desert.

For the naturalist, green earthy tones can bring the wonder of the world into your kitchen. For the cozy home-body, dark warm tones of gray on cabinetry add a rich and modern scope that spans space and time.

Trends in texture From classic to modern and from farmhouse to high-tech modernistic styling, designers work to make surfaces make a statement. With cabinetry, there’s no shortage of options: matte and glossy, dark and light, with and without handles.

Technology has played a major role in the improved quality of laminates in the kitchen; many of today’s laminate options have a more realistic appearance and texture than their ancestors. For a more authentic wood look, an option like Wellborn Cabinet’s Decorative Laminate Veneer Door Collection is filled with color choices in a range of materials spanning embossed and textured melamine, acrylic, laminates, metal and more.

Another option is cabinetry featuring timber with exposed grain for a balance between embracing nature and exuding sophistication. This trend celebrates imperfections and allows you to bring nature into your home. Defined or rustic woods are made from materials such as walnut, oak and cherry. For nature enthusiasts or those seeking the rustic farmhouse style, you can find beautiful organic finishes in Wellborn’s Aspire Full Access Frameless line. The standout feature is heavy graining. Hand sanding, along with hand-rubbed finishes, provide a quality product with varied textures that minimizes the need for a lot of color.

Focus on Function A beautiful kitchen may please the eye, but when it comes down to it, a kitchen’s function is its greatest value. Integrate these ideas for a kitchen that offers maximum function for one of your home’s most-used spaces.

Declutter the countertops. Consider incorporating pull-out and roll-out trays into your cabinetry to maximize your storage space, as well as dressing your cabinets with appropriate inserts and organizational kits. Eliminate wasted space by adding corner cabinets to utilize all your available space.

In addition, an option like Wellborn Cabinet’s Aspire Full Access Frameless cabinetry makes it simple to create diverse design styles with better storage options than traditional cabinet framing allows. Without a face frame on the front of the cabinet box, this style provides more room for storage and easier accessibility. You can create a modernistic kitchen, a rustic farmhouse kitchen or a nature-styled kitchen.

Determine the island’s function. The island is often the visual centerpiece of the kitchen, but determining its function can maximize its benefit. Fully functional cabinetry around the island can provide added storage space. For example, custom cabinetry appliance panels let you not only conceal bulky appliances, they also give your wall cabinets more space and functionality.

Make recycling easy. Place the recycle and garbage bins in a drawer near the sink to allow for easier accessibility and keep them out of sight.